BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann was the fastest driver in the first practice session for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at the Moscow Raceway, ahead of Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris.
Wittmann, who currently leads the championship by seven points, posted a time which was almost three tenths faster than Vietoris around the Russian circuit.
“It’s always nice to have start the weekend with number one,” said Wittmann. “In the end, it clearly only matters tomorrow, especially in qualifying.
“We need to see what the weather does, which can be very changeable. But it is a good start and now we must continue to do our job and build on it.”
Spaniard Daniel Juncadella put his Mercedes in third overall, just 0.012 seconds slower than Vietoris, ahead of Lucas auer, who made it three Mercedes in the top four positions.
BMW pairing Augusto Farfus, of Team MTEK, and Tom Blomqvist, of Team RBM, were fifth and sixth fastest.
Edoardo Mortara in seventh was the only other driver to be within half a second of the pace, with the Italian also being the leading Audi driver in the session.
Newcomer Felix Rosenqvist, replacing Esteban Ocon at Mercedes who has moved to Formula One, ended his first practice session in a respectable 19th overall, just over a second off the pace.
There was a light flurry of rain at the end of the session, but it passed largely dry. As is becoming commonplace at the Moscow Raceway there is a strong possibility of rain for Sunday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:30.607 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 16 | 1:30.885 | 0.278 |
| 3 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 1:30.897 | 0.290 |
| 4 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 18 | 1:30.934 | 0.327 |
| 5 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:31.084 | 0.477 |
| 6 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:31.094 | 0.487 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:31.105 | 0.498 |
| 8 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:31.116 | 0.509 |
| 9 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:31.149 | 0.542 |
| 10 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 21 | 1:31.180 | 0.573 |
| 11 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:31.202 | 0.595 |
| 12 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:31.277 | 0.670 |
| 13 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:31.319 | 0.712 |
| 14 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:31.334 | 0.727 |
| 15 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:31.396 | 0.789 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:31.420 | 0.813 |
| 17 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:31.507 | 0.900 |
| 18 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:31.520 | 0.913 |
| 19 | 88 | Felix ROSENQVIST | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:31.635 | 1.028 |
| 20 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:31.855 | 1.248 |
| 21 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:31.884 | 1.277 |
| 22 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:31.991 | 1.384 |
| 23 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:32.045 | 1.438 |
| 24 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:32.425 | 1.818 |